APC garage
The APC garage is a Combine garage located in the Wasteland section of the Canals, used for the maintenance of Armored Personnel Carriers. It is visited by Gordon Freeman during his journey to Black Mesa East. Overview Consisting of three main areas, the garage is a reasonably large complex guarded by a large Civil Protection force. The buildings are constructed mostly in concrete, and elevated several meters above the Canals. The water has since dropped, as seen from the marks on its outer walls. It may have previously been a warehouse used for storing goods and loading them onto boats. The main building (the garage/workshop), with two garage doors probably leading to a road, has been converted by the Combine to repair APCs, who added a Combine Interface and further conveniences, such as four Combine Dispensers used to deploy Manhacks, and an Emplacement Gun. There can be found two APCs parked in front of the garage doors. Tools and car parts are scattered around the area, and the two smaller rooms both containing weaponry and supplies can be found, although one is apparently used for interrogating Citizens. Judging from the large amount of weaponry, this is probably an important control point for the Combine. An outdoor walkway guarded by a second Emplacement Gun leads to a room with two large turbines inside. There, a door leads to a floodgate, which used to have a bridge leading to other buildings located on the other side of the Canal. A crank, broken upon Gordon's arrival, was used to open the floodgate. Appearances Half-Life 2 The garage is visited by Gordon during the Half-Life 2 chapter Water Hazard. Whilst traveling through the Canals via his Airboat, Gordon's journey is hindered by the closed floodgate. To open it in order to continue his journey, he must enter the garage. As he passes through, he is ambushed by many Civil Protection units, one of them using the Emplacement Gun located outside. As he passes through, Wallace Breen sends a message via Breencast, addressing both Citizens and Combine forces. After fighting the Metrocops, Gordon reaches the crank for the gate, which is broken. Conveniently, there are several explosive barrels nearby that can be shot in order to break loose a large metallic beam, which swings down towards the gate, smashing it open, and causing an alarm to sound. Gordon is then forced to take the long way round, back through the garage, to get back down to the Airboat. During the process, more Metrocops are brought in via a Dropship to prevent his escape. Behind the scenes *Four APC garages can be found in WC mappack maps such as "c17_04" and its variations, near the early Breencast, a Metropolice station, and the Manhack Arcade. *The Half-Life 2: Deathmatch map Run Off is based on the APC garage map. Trivia *It is possible to skip the puzzle for opening the floodgate, and the entire combat sequence around that, without using cheats. When taking the ladder leading to the garage, the player has a visual contact with the explosive barrels that need to be destroyed to open the gate. It is possible to shoot them from there and clear the path to the Airboat without the need to go inside the building. However since this is not to be achieved through normal gameplay, several glitches will occur, mostly related to the reinforcements brought by Dropship. Once the Dropship stops, another one will appear out of nowhere right next to the original. The original Dropship will disappear, then the other one will fly away down its scripted path. If the player follows it, it will soon disappear. During the process, it never dropped any Metrocops. **Interestingly, if the player chooses to enter the APC Garage afterwards, they will play through it as if the player hasn't broken the gates down, despite the fact that the Dropship can be observed flying past the player's location. Once they reach the section of the Garage where they should have shot at the barrels, the events for after the gates are broken down work normally. **This is due to maps using "Triggers" to spawn NPCs. Which spawns once the players passes it's entity. *When viewing the building from the outside, it appears that at least one of the two garage doors leads to nothing - a developer's oversight. *It is possible to stop the Metrocop from activating the Manhacks if you kill him before he reaches the console. Gallery File:Emplacement gun fire metrocop apc garage.jpg|Metrocop firing an Emplacement Gun at Freeman near the garage. File:Emplacement gun apc garage.jpg|Using the previous Emplacement Gun against Metrocops. File:Metrocop mountgun canals07.jpg|Metrocop manning an Emplacement Gun during Freeman's way back through the garage. File:D1 canals 070003.jpg|A Breencast referring to Gordon seen as Gordon passes through. File:D1 canals 070004.jpg|Ditto. File:D1 canals 070005.jpg|An individual having been interrogated. File:D1 canals 070007.jpg|Civil Protection officers guarding the area, with a security camera in the background. File:D1 canals 070008.jpg|An APC ready to be driven out of the garage. File:D1 canals 070010.jpg|The four Combine Dispensers. File:D1 canals 070014.jpg|The broken crank for opening the gate. File:D1 canals 070016.jpg|Seen through the fence, the barrels to be exploded, with the metal bar located above them. File:D1 canals 070001.jpg|Ditto. File:D1 canals 070018.jpg|The turbine room guard by Metrocops. File:D1 canals 070021.jpg|Reinforcements arrive, triggered by the collapse of the gate. File:D1 canals 070025.jpg|Metrocops arrive to stop Gordon. File:D1 canals 070027.jpg|Ditto. File:HL2DM_Runoff.jpg|Overview of the Half-Life 2: Deathmatch map Run Off. List of appearances *''Half-Life 2'' *''Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar'' Category:Combine locations Category:Locations Category:Canals locations Category:The Wasteland locations Category:Half-Life 2